"Big bro, why are snakes always around you?" The boy next to him asked in an accusatory tone. This boy was Jana Jua, Mwana's eight year old cousin who was considered his little cousin by the customs of their tribe.

"Hmmm, what did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Mwana had indeed not heard him as he was engrossed in thoughts about his first experience as a walking 'snake magnet.'

"What did you say?"

However to Jana, being asked this twice sounded like a threat. "It was nothing, I said nothing at all. Just treat my words as air."

Mwana couldn't be bothered to keep asking the shifty kid and he was more interested in checking the latter's progress, after all he had always taken his big brother role very seriously. He knew full well how lazy Jana was, at least compared to his extremely high standards of hard work.

"Why did you only arrive when the sun was rising, hmmm? Was your bed that warm?" Before Jana could formulate a response, his ear was already in Mwana's grip. He did not even see how the latter moved the distance between them. "Your answer better not disappoint me. You know your father left your training to me and as your teacher I have to show results."

Jana almost wanted to cry hearing this; he was already attending village school for Junior Warriors just like Mwana, so why did he need a second teacher. However, being born in the same family as a training maniac like his cousin meant that he would always be compared to him. His father, seeing Mwana's hard-work, wanted his son to follow in his older cousin's footsteps but not every person let alone children like him, could be as tenacious.

"You, you, you know not everyone can be like you." After a bit of stuttering, Jana spoke his true thoughts. He knew all his excuses would be useless. He had received many a red ear because of them several times before.

"I'm already working harder than most, I'm the best in my class right now and all the teachers have is praise for me yet you are never satisfied."

After saying that statement, he felt as if he had gotten a bit ahead of himself but after feeling his ears were still safe, his budding pride got him to continue, "Are you better than the teachers in the village?" When Jana felt his ears loosening, he felt even more emboldened, "Do you know better than them!"

"Why do you even have to go at it so hard and even expect me to be just like you?" He finished the last question and prepared for the pain but to his surprise, Mwana had already let go of him.

He wasn't even next to him; he was already close to twenty meters away right at the fence of the compound looking at the village roads. Other houses were already opening their doors and smoking chimneys could be seen all over the village just like every other day in the early morning. Day in, day out, life continued as usual.

Noticing Mwana's silence, Jana could only stand there wondering what to say, 'Maybe my words hurt him too much.'

"I have to become an intermediate warrior before I am ten. I have to join the hunts. I have to be able to leave the village as soon as possible." Mwana's words immediately interrupted Jana's stray thoughts.

"After all, I have to think about my sister, my mother, about father." On hearing this, Jana's face changed, his little face showed solemnity not matching his age.

The father Mwana referred in this case was his uncle but per the tribe's customs, uncles older than his father had the title of 'big father' while those younger than his father were 'little fathers.' The 'little father' in this case was his father's cousin as Mwana's late father did not have any other siblings.

This uncle, who was Jana's father, was a veteran soldier who had fought for the kingdom at one of its most dangerous battlefields, Dragon Spike which was to the extreme South of the nation. Right before the end of his service, he was severely injured and discharged back home.

"Father was injured at Dragon Spike four years ago. His legs, his spine, his nerves, pain, you all know this better than me, don't you?"

"My mother, you know her issues don't you?"

"And Pendo, don't you want better for her?"

"Of course I know and I do," Jana answered the questions, his voice already dripping with emotion. He had always been called emotional before. Mwana's three questions were already enough to rile him up and tickle his tear ducts.

"I will tell you something someone once told me,"

"The country would rather a dead soldier than a disabled one,"

"This has always been their stand regarding veteran benefits, though they claim they will compensate injured soldiers like father, they would prefer not to touch their own pockets, and after a while the burden gets passed to the tribe. Then guess what, the tribe also does the same after some time and passes that to the village! Before you know it, there is no one behind you anymore!" Mwana said everything in almost a single breath and by the end, his voice was already breaking.

Jua on the other hand could not believe it. At his young age, these were concepts he had never come across. After all just like every other child, he had big dreams of fighting for his nation against hostile foreign nations just like his father. He would become a renowned hero all over the kingdom whose name would be sung praises wherever he went. Songs would be composed and poems written.

"Impossible! How could that be! I don't believe you."

"What about Mwanga's family?" Jana continued asking.

"Dead!" A simple reply from Mwana was enough to shut him up. Mwanga's father was indeed dead. He had died a warrior on the battlefield and his family had indeed been compensated but only once. It was nothing in comparison to the continued support a disabled veteran would need.

"No way!"

"My father, same thing. It is much easier to dump a lump-sum to a dead soldier's family compared to continuous support for the living but injured and disabled. After a while, that burden gets passed to the tribe and the tribe passes it onto the village."

Jana looked a bit lost hearing all this. His father had never been one to show weakness despite being confined to a chair for the rest of his life. At least as his son, Jana was not too aware of his family's financial situation. He was well fed and taken care of, it was hard for a child like him to consider anything else beneath the surface.

Mwana continued explaining even further, "While the village might not let families like us sink into poverty and helplessness, there will always be those who see us as moochers living free off their hard work. Just because we are connected by blood as one clan won't stop them from feeling this."

"Think about how much support father requires."

Jana's at least knew that his father had severe injuries to his spine, legs and even his nerves. These injuries required regular treatment otherwise his father would be wracked with indescribable pain. The medicine couldn't be cheap yet it was not even a permanent solution.

Is it that his father would live out the rest of his life like that? What if his body became immune to the medicine as time went on? Wouldn't he be condemned to death?

Yet even the medicine he was receiving right now was very expensive especially for someone who couldn't contribute to the village at all. While the village was united, there would always be people who couldn't help but grumble when their money went to help the less fortunate. Even as children, Mwana and Jana had already heard these grumblings. They knew their family was one of the ones viewed as leeches by some in the village.